A computational aesthetics assessment of chess playing quality between the genders

Abstract

Aesthetics or beauty in chess is a quality appreciated by most players. However, there is scant research on the differences of aesthetic perception between the genders, especially given the lower participation of females in this domain. Using an experimentally-validated computational aesthetics model for chess, we evaluated a fair selection of winning chess move sequences taken from games played between women and men. Contrary to previous research that was not as thorough, we found no statistically significant difference in the aesthetic quality of those sequences between the groups. The results suggest that aesthetic ability, perception and appreciation in the game are likely not affected by gender. This also implies that training methods and promotion of the game to girls or young women have less, if any, basis for being any different from those that pertain to boys or men. Furthermore, the arguably absolute lack of participation of women in the sub-domain of chess problem composition - in which aesthetics plays an even more significant role - likely has little, if anything, to do with innate capability unless otherwise demonstrated. © Proceedings of 2018 the 8th International Workshop on Computer Science and Engineering, WCSE 2018. All rights reserved.